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My uncle was given one of these swords from a Japanese general at boarding of the signing on the USS Missouri. Ten years ago the sword auction for 40,000 dollars. Samurai or not these swords are worth something. I seen on the history channel that the...

My uncle was given one of these swords from a Japanese general at boarding of the signing on the USS Missouri. Ten years ago the sword auction for 40,000 dollars. Samurai or not these swords are worth something. I seen on the history channel that the everyday sword in that time if in good condition is worth from 1500 to 4000 dollars. So don't let the bs talk make you think differently.

I don't want to be a detractor, but the predominance of swords collected from the Japanese during the war were NOT Samurai swords. There is a vast, and complete difference between a Samurai sword, and those collected, which are...

Hello,

I don't want to be a detractor, but the predominance of swords collected from the Japanese during the war were NOT Samurai swords. There is a vast, and complete difference between a Samurai sword, and those collected, which are simply called 'Japanese War Swords,' or Officers swords.

They largely look the same, but that is as far as the resemblance goes.

The code of the Samurai, 'Bushido,' 'Bushi' meaning warrior, and 'Do,' meaning 'Way,' or in it's more familiar Chinese pronunciation, and spelling; 'Tao,' (pronounced 'dhaow,' is not easily translatable into english, as the simple term 'Do,' (long O), or 'Tao,' meaning way, or path, had substantive volumes of the Superior man's path through life, polishing his character, as he perfects his nature, moving toward 'Heaven.'

The men who made such swords, were craftsman of such mastery and artistic merit, that even today we are just getting a handle on the absolutely superior steel forged by the Japanese master sword-makers. The process of forging the blade, took weeks to months. They would continually fold the steel, over and over removing impurities, air pockets, evenly distributing all elements so there would be no inherent weakness where the blade could fracture or break. They devised cooling processes, where different parts of the blade would cool at different rates, insuring rigidity, and flexability, and razor sharpness with out fracturing or breaking. With few exceptions, the war swords of japan, looked similar, and some high ranking officers my have had a family heirloom. But largely, they were stamped out then ground and polished.

My granddad was lucky enough to be given one by a village elder.
He was a combat engineer that worked on one of the islands after the war on one of the airfields, I forget the entire story, but he helped a village build a well, or a bridge,...

My granddad was lucky enough to be given one by a village elder.
He was a combat engineer that worked on one of the islands after the war on one of the airfields, I forget the entire story, but he helped a village build a well, or a bridge, something down those lines and was given a real samurai sword in gratitude of his work for them. It is such an honor to have it in our family now. I've sliced my hand open more than once by it's blade. It's insane how sharp it is, even after all these years!!!

DamDSx (Fri 12 Jun 2009 03:57:13 PM EDT)

So not so lucky to have this piece of crap in your hands, unless you were REALLY lucky, and found an original hand made Samurai sword.

Lucky to own one? these swords were mass produced except fopr a few ones who were hand made, passed down from generation to generation. Most of the original, hand made Samurai swords were owned by officers and high ranking people within Japan's army,...

Lucky to own one? these swords were mass produced except fopr a few ones who were hand made, passed down from generation to generation. Most of the original, hand made Samurai swords were owned by officers and high ranking people within Japan's army, and those lucky enough to have a hand made Samurai sword in their family. Most were cheatply made, low quality sword made by the 1000's on factories. the Samurai community felt insulted by this, since the sword, by tradition, has to be hand made by experts, with techniques passed down from generation to generation.

someperson (Fri 12 Jun 2009 12:09:00 PM EDT)

If it wasn't the end of the war those japanese would have never surrendered those swords.

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